Forget for a moment what is at stake when Ed O’Bannon’s antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA finally goes to trial today.

True, what is essentially on trial is the entire economic model of a college sports system that has been sustained since the late 1800s by the concept that student-athletes are amateurs.

Beyond eve-of-destruction forecasts, however, lies the simple but historic fact that college players and power brokers will be on equal ground when they meet today in a federal courtroom in Oakland, Calif.

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That idea alone is mind-boggling to Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive in the shoe industry and a longtime NCAA critic.

“It’s monumental, whatever the verdict is,” Vaccaro said. “The athletes are now going to be recognized at the highest point: in the courts. This is an amazing thing. Finally, the athletes are getting heard.”

Vaccaro, 74, has advised O’Bannon since the former UCLA basketball player sued the NCAA, the Collegiate Licensing Co. and Electronic Arts in July 2009 over the commercial use of former Division I football and men’s basketball players’ names, images and likenesses.

Since then, the case has become a class-action suit with only the NCAA left as defendant after Electronic Arts and CLC agreed to a $40 million settlement with the plaintiffs last month.

Now, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken will begin a bench trial with no jury.

“This is really going to be the first case that is going to go to trial and potentially result in a student-athlete eligibility rule being found to violate the federal antitrust laws,” said Matt Mitten, an Ohio State graduate and director of the National Sports Law Institute.

O’Bannon is joined by 23 other current and former college football and men’s basketball players as plaintiffs, including NBA Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell, and former OSU football player Ray Ellis.

Former OSU quarterback Mike Tomczak was among more than 50 former college athletes who signed a “statement of support” for the plaintiffs.

“I wanted to offer dual support personally and collectively for what our rights are and for what is fair practice and what is not fair practice,” Tomczak said. “What Ed O’Bannon is saying is, ‘What rights do we have?’ It’s not about the dollar; it’s about what’s right and wrong.”

The plaintiffs originally sought individual monetary damages. Now they instead seek only a court-ordered injunction allowing them to negotiate for group licensing — currently prohibited by NCAA rules — in future sales of their publicity rights.

Broadcast money is currently shared only by the NCAA and its member schools and conferences. The NCAA alone reportedly made more than

$700 million in TV revenue in 2012-13.

Last year, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told the federal court that if the athletes received a piece of the TV revenue, it could force members of Ohio State’s league to de-emphasize athletics.

“The Big Ten’s schools would forgo the revenues in those circumstances and instead take steps to downsize the scope, breadth and activity of their athletic programs,” Delany said in a written statement.

Delany and NCAA President Mark Emmert are expected to testify in the trial. The NCAA witness list also includes Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and Athletic Director Dave Brandon, and Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis. No one from OSU is listed.

The NCAA is expected to argue that rules prohibiting college athletes from being paid are a necessary part of attracting fans because that system offers a desired alternative to professional sports, and that amateurism also ensures competitive balance.

An O’Bannon victory could lead to Division I football and men’s basketball players signing endorsement deals, being represented by agents, and getting paid by boosters. All are currently prohibited by NCAA rules.

“It has potentially broad implications, if the NCAA can’t preclude third parties from entering into these sorts of arrangements with college athletes,” said Mitten, a Marquette law professor. “Say the local car dealership or grocery dealer goes to Ohio State’s quarterback and says, ‘OK, we’ll pay you $10,000 to appear in commercials or to make promotional appearances.’ Then you run into some real potential issues there because then it’s looking much more like the professional model.”

The O’Bannon verdict is expected to be appealed regardless of its outcome, and the trial could spur even more litigation, specifically in regard to Title IX. Already, the case has led a full-fledged attack on the college sports system.

College athletes have filed at least five other class-action antitrust suits against the NCAA since O’Bannon’s case originated. This year, Northwestern football players were granted the right to unionize.

“O’Bannon gave birth and strength to others,” Vaccaro said.

Today, all other attacks on the NCAA will take a back seat to federal courthouse drama. “If it hadn’t gotten this far,” Vaccaro said, “people would have said, ‘That jerk O’Bannon tried to do something that was ridiculous. Who the hell did he think he was?’ But you know what? Now it’s not ridiculous. He got here. He’s playing in the final game now.”